A different take on the early voting situation

“I must respectfully refute Mr. Richard Merion’s letter, “Obama, DNC wrong to argue against early voting for military voters.” I am of course grateful for his and every other service member’s service to our country, and it is because of this that it is particularly insulting to see them used as pawns in this way during this campaign season. For the past couple months, rumors have swirled about concerning a vicious attempt by the Obama administration to curtail the rights of military voters in Ohio. Not only could this not be further from the truth, but the actual truth paints a dismal picture of the party attempting to propagate the rumor.

A year after the 2004 elections, in part due to problems such as excessively long lines at polling places and reports that thousands of voters left after waiting for hours, Ohio instituted an early voting program which included in-person voting starting in October. This program greatly increased participation in elections. Some estimates put the number of votes in the three days prior to the 2008 elections at nearly 100,000.

In 2011, the GOP-controlled Ohio Legislature eliminated early voting for the three days prior to the election for all except members of the military and overseas civilians. Various groups, including the Obama administration, the Democratic National Convention and the Ohio Democratic Party sued to have this voting period restored to all voters. As stated in the complaint, “Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment, preliminary injunction, and permanent injunction prohibiting Defendants from implementing or enforcing the HB 224 and SB 295 changes to Ohio Rev. Code § 3509.03, thereby restoring in-person absentee voting on the three days immediately preceding Election Day for all Ohio voters.”

It would seem that it could be no more clear that the goal was to restore the early voting program that had existed for the last seven years for everyone, not to eliminate it for any particular group. However, right-wing pundits and “news” outlets predictably pounced on the lawsuit and misrepresented it as much as possible, claiming that this was somehow an attempt to disenfranchise military voters.

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It is no surprise that the GOP would attempt to restrict voting rights, given that they are doing so in most of the so-called swing states in time for this election. It is rather telling that they would go ahead and try to contort the truth into a narrative that casts the Obama administration in a negative light for trying to ensure equal voting access for everyone.

Mitt Romney himself seems to disdain fact-checking, as he quickly expressed his “outrage” over the lawsuit, latching onto the same narrative. I imagine that Mr. Merion, a retired veteran, would find it rather ironic that by supporting the Ohio GOP’s actions, he would be eliminating the early voting period for himself and his fellow veterans. As veterans are not covered under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act, their voting rights would be the same as any civilian in the states.